More Than Just A Number

ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF

TORONTO — Noel Prefontaine is a kicker by trade but has always been a quarterback at heart. For the longtime Argo, however, the numbers have never really added up.

A high school standout at the pivot position while growing up in San Diego, “Pre”, as he is affectionately referred to by his teammates, has always had a strong right arm, even though it’s his freakishly powerful left leg that has defined his professional career. Despite that, he sometimes throws scout team at practice, and has even been listed on an Argonauts’ game roster as a backup quarterback. In the XFL, he trained as both a reserve quarterback and a kicker for the Los Angeles team. Maybe that’s why, even as a star kicker, he always pined for a jersey number held by an elite quarterback.

As a CFL rookie, Prefontaine walked into Argonauts training camp in 1998 fully expecting to be assigned his favourite number, 2. As a newbie to the league, he didn’t yet know the significance of that jersey number for Double Blue fans.

He soon found out that a certain individual with the surname Flutie had just finished one of the finest tenures ever by an Argos quarterback, all while wearing the number 2. Needless to say, it wasn’t readily available to ‘just anyone’ upon his arrival.

In football, rosters are so large that jersey numbers are passed around like trading cards from season to season. The locker room is the responsibility the equipment staff and preserving the legacy of the greats for those who come after is a duty in which they take great pride. Argos’ equipment manager Danny Webb had taken Doug Flutie’s number out of circulation as a sign of respect.

“I showed up for the first day of camp, and Danny Webb tossed the # 1 jersey at me and said, ‘good luck making the team, kid,” Prefontaine recalled.

For the 2012 season, the 14-year CFL veteran will again don the number 1 on his jersey for the first time since his departure from Toronto in 2008. He was unexpectedly traded to Edmonton on the day before training camp.

“I think, during the early parts of my career, I had a following of people who enjoyed how I played the game. They all [still] remember me with the number 1 on my back.”

After becoming number one, not only on the game program but also in the hearts of the Boatmen faithful, Pre was sent to Edmonton and upon his arrival in Alberta learned that his new favourite number had already been enshrined in Green & Gold lore. Another new city, another legendary quarterback.

“Warren Moon wore number 1 for Edmonton,” said Prefontaine. “Nobody in the Eskimos organization said it was off limits, but they let it be known, in a very classy manner, who [else had] worn that number. So I decided to be classy myself and chose number 7, instead.”

To Pre, though, it was more than just a number. It was symbolic of the angst he felt after leaving the Double Blue, an organization he had spent his entire CFL career playing for. His roots in Toronto ran deep.

“During my time [in Toronto], I became infatuated with the organization, the fan base and the city as a whole,” explained the 38 year-old California native. “I was heartbroken when I left Toronto, so it’s kind of corny, but I felt like the number 7 represented a broken number 1.”

He was now in Edmonton and 11 years had passed since the rookie entered the Argonauts’ locker room in Mississauga and naively inquired about the availability of Doug Flutie’s jersey. He left Toronto a full-fledged veteran with league-wide respect, his name printed throughout the club’s record book. Webb dutifully and promptly pulled Prefontaine’s jersey number 1 from circulation, turning away any requests for it from fresh-faced pro-football rookies during the kicker’s hiatus.

Prefontaine re-joined the Argonauts in 2010. To the delight of local fans, he was re-acquired in a late-season trade. Pre was coming home to pick up where he’d left off, almost. Once again, though, he found himself without jersey number 1 and back in 7.

The number had remained dormant and out of the public eye for two full seasons, protected by the equipment team. It took a veteran of 10 professional football seasons, and a quarterback at that, Cleo Lemon to put number 1 back on the game program. To fans, however, it was the number Pre had made part of his Argonauts identity, and upon Lemon’s release in early September of 2011, Prefontaine set his sights back on re-obtaining his beloved digit. League rules prevented him from switching jersey numbers midway through the season, so he waited.

While he waited, he slowly settled back into his Toronto way of life. He was back with his wife and son, with another on the way. He rekindled his bond with the team’s fans and, over time, he even began to forgive the organization. He continued to wear the 7 on his jersey, but the break was healing and the symbolism had faded.

“Rest assured, as soon as that number became available, I let it be known that I wanted it back.”